Picasso and Paper – a blockbuster show at the Royal Academy which celebrates his extensive use of paper in his art. For sketching, doodling, printing, collages and creating paper as form, this show provides a dazzling insight into Picasso’s work practice and prodigious use of the material in so many creative ways. Fabulous.
Thousands of little faces gaze out of group photos of Year 3 Classes and fill the main hall at Tate Britain with glorious smiles, pulled faces, quizzical expressions and the promise of all their futures. Artist Steve McQueen has initiated a wonderful project with Tate, Artangel and A New Direction to capture some 76,146 of London’s seven and eight year olds. It’s fabulous.
LEONARDO – experience a masterpiece – is a very clever and beguiling guide to the creation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks. The painting took 25 years to create and this ‘experience’ draws you into Leonardo’s studio, the light he might have used to illuminate models, the composition, materials, early use of oil paint and the fabulous atmosphere of this extraordinary painting which is on show at London’s National Gallery.
A focus on Freud. Lucian Freud recorded his own face and body throughout his artistic career. A fascinating show at the Royal Academy, London, collates some of the best – from early pencil sketches made in his confident youth to reflective soul-bearing and the impasto features of a very private artist, striving to understand what he sees, made right at the end of his life.
Gauguin portraits at the National Gallery – a fabulous show which assembles sensitive self-portraits and psychological impressions of sitters – offers a fascinating chronology of the artist’s work.
Elizabeth Peyton: Aire and Angels – a major exhibition of her portraits has opened at the National Portrait Gallery. Paintings made in the last ten years have been distributed amongst the permanent collection provoking interesting opportunities to compare and contrast.
Pushing Paper: contemporary drawing from 1970 to now and a fabulous show of prints by Käthe Kollwitz make a trip to the British Museum (Room 90) a must for anyone who is as fascinated as I am by the potential of paper and the power of drawing.
Hackney Wicked lives up to its name with a wicked summer arts festival which takes place in the shadow of the Olympic Park and offers a chance for artists occupying studio space in crumbling warehouses to fling open their doors and allow us to survey, review and delight in the creativity that blooms in east London.
